Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Foreign and domestic infrastructure companies are showing interest in the upcoming highway and Bosphorus bridge privatizations. French operator Egis is reportedly emerging as a leading contender for the 30-year operating rights.
Ahmet and Hülya Gökçek, the son and daughter-in-law of former Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, were questioned as suspects on Sept. 7 and released under judicial control with a ban on leaving Turkey.
The government has put the lucrative Bosphorus bridges and major state highways back on sale 14 years after cancelling a similar tender. The move comes as medium-term plans include significantly higher privatization revenue in the coming years.
Some Turkish words are as sharp and clear as a gleam of a knife. Others confuse you. Yakışır is a particular gem in the latter category. Literally, it means “befitting” or “suits well.” But intonation does all the heavy lifting here. With a twinkle in the eye, yakışır becomes high praise: a friend gets a long-deserved promotion? “Yakışır!” A suave female CEO in her sixties starts dating a younger man with abs and ambition? “Yakışır vallahi!” But delivered with a dry brow and pursed lips, the very same yakışır morphs into biting derision, the sort you might lob at a corrupt bureaucrat who gets caught rigging tenders again or the son of one of the president’s close allies landing an ambassadorial job.
Bakım, or care, is one of those deceptively soft words, the sugar coating over a complex vitamin pill, a soft towel draped over the hard machinery of an economy. It suggests tenderness and love. What it rarely suggests is exhaustion, lost income, or the quiet arithmetic of inequality.
Prosecutors have requested permission from the Interior Ministry to investigate Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, widely seen as a potential presidential contender against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over alleged misconduct and dereliction of duty, Oct. 10.
Since Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s detention on March 19, the CHP has held 40 rallies despite no upcoming elections, yet failed to shift the political agenda. The party opened İmamoğlu’s first campaign office in its Çankaya stronghold in Ankara, only to see its provincial chair dismissed days later. Though operations against Istanbul Municipality slowed, confessions from businessperson Aziz İhsan Aktaş continue to dominate headlines. A fresh wave of arrests targeted subsidiaries ISFALT and IETT, as well as tender officials.